It is commonplace today for cable television and satellite television networks to carry several hundred channels. Typically, even a subscriber to basic services gets over 50 channels. It is not uncommon for a subscriber to have over 100 channels available with a subscription. Advances in Internet video and television make available thousands more channels and videos for consumer entertainment. When a consumer wants to spend an hour watching television, they may have, at their choice, thousands and thousands of television programs available during the hour. Choosing a television program or channel to watch may then become a non-trivial and painful task, defeating the purpose of watching television as an entertaining event.
Many Internet videos and television channels are closely related to television programs shown on regular television channels, yet consumers cannot view a television program and switch to related Internet videos easily on their television set.
For example, in one scenario, Lucy has a television set connected to a cable television network, and an Internet television set-top box allowing her to watch televised video on the Internet. Lucy wants to watch cooking programs, hoping to find a special dish to make for a weekend party. Lucy scans all the cable channels plus at least a hundred Internet television channels before she finds a channel she likes.
In another exemplary scenario, Jack is watching live televised Olympics events on television. Jack learns that there are at least 100 broadcast and Internet television channels showing Olympic events. These hundred channels publish program schedules of several possible events. Due to the unpredictable timing of an event, the channels do not publish a firm program schedule. The program schedules suggest consumers to check the channels for the actual events covered. After watching a 100 m freestyle swimming heat, Jack wants to watch a bicycle racing event. Jack flips through the hundred channels to find an Internet television channel televising a bicycle race.
Thus, there is a need to tailor display of a television set based on a television program summary and updates.